Turner to Finalize Bleacher Report Deal for Under $200 Million

Time Warner 's Turner Networks is expected to announce its acquisition of sports website Bleacher Report for just under $200 million later today, according a source close to the talks.

The deal concludes months of talks between Time Warner and the site built on amateur sports coverage and analysis. The deal was first reported by AllThingsD.

Bleacher Report has raised $40 million since it was founded in 2007 and today has about 10 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore. A source said the site is on pace to reach $30 million in revenue in 2012.

Part of that owes to the 2011 hire of Rich Calacci, a 15-year veteran of CBS Interactive, to build out a sales force and convince big-name advertisers that Bleacher Report was a safe home for their brand. The results can be seen on the site's homepage, which in recent weeks has featured ad takeovers from Pizza Hut, Red Bull and Muscle Milk, among others.

The site adds to Turner's digital portfolio and roughly replaces the traffic lost when its digital ad-sales pact with Sports Illustrated ended in the spring. Turner's ad-sales deal with PGATour.com will conclude at the end of this year as well.

Bleacher Report's editorial content is generated by 6,000 mostly unpaid contributors who churn out more than 1,000 articles a day.

Bleacher Report is the only independent property in comScore's Top 10, following Big Lead Sports' sale earlier this year to USA Today Sports Media Group, so acquisition targets with big audiences are in short supply.